RNC Steps Up ‘You Didn’t Build That’ Attacks

Alex Wong/Getty Images(WASHINGTON) — The Republican National Committee is again joining forces with its friends at the Romney campaign, continuing the “you didn’t build that” push on Wednesday with a new web video.

While the campaign has 24 events in swing states with small business owners, the RNC’s video adds more of what the president said earlier this month instead of just using the “you didn’t build that” line, which they’ve been pushing and using out of context for more than 10 days.

The clip begins and ends with the words, “The more context you get, the worse it sounds.”

The rest of the video is more of what the president said in Roanoake, Va., on July 13, when he stressed the importance of community as well as continued government investments in infrastructure and public services that many businesses in this country utilize.

“If you’ve been successful, you didn’t get there on your own, ” Obama said. “You didn’t get there on your own. I’m always struck by people who think, well, it must be because I was just so smart. There are a lot of smart people out there. It must be because I worked harder than everybody else. Let me tell you something — there are a whole bunch of hardworking people out there. If you were successful, somebody along the line gave you some help. There was a great teacher somewhere in your life. Somebody helped to create this unbelievable American system that we have that allowed you to thrive. Somebody invested in roads and bridges. If you’ve got a business, you didn’t build that. Somebody else made that happen.”

“President Obama thinks his comments are being taken out of context, but the reality is the context makes it worse,” RNC Chairman Reince Priebus said in a statement. “With more context, it is obvious President Obama doesn’t understand that businesses succeed because of the hard work and sacrifice of the American people, not the growth and intrusiveness of government. President Obama thinks he can paint over his latest admission, but he can’t cover up four years of anti-business actions. From his comments to entrepreneurs that ‘you didn’t build that’ and the private sector is ‘doing fine’ to failing to meet with his jobs council and failing to hold Daily Economic Briefings, it’s clear Obama’s lack of concern for our economy is quite clear.”

On Tuesday, the Obama campaign released an ad with the president refuting the “you didn’t build that” attacks and accusing Republicans of intentionally misleading the public saying his words have been “taken out of context.”

“Of course Americans build their own businesses,” Obama says in the video, looking directly at the camera. “Every day, hard-working people sacrifice to meet a payroll, create jobs, and make our economy run.”

“And what I said was that we need to stand behind them, as America always has,” Obama said in the ad that will run in six swing states.

The RNC’s web video seems to be a direct response to the president’s ad from Tuesday and it’s a new tweak to the messaging. It seems that the committee no longer needs the line to be completely taken out of context to press its message that the president doesn’t stand by small business owners.